Abarat – Clive Barker

This is the tale of the Abarat, a magical group of islands where each is a particular time of the day, inhabited by strange and wonderful characters, some of whom are concerned with daily life, whilst others struggle for power. It is in this weird and unusual land, where all things and all beings appear possible, that the heroine, Candy from Chickentown in the USA, finds herself.
Recommended age: 13+

Harper Collins

The Chronicles of Prydain – Alexander Lloyd

This is the tale of Taran, assistant pig keeper, who longs to be a hero. He embarks on a dangerous journey with a strange assortment of companions to save his beloved land, Prydain, from the forces of evil. The ‘Book of Three’ is the first book in this five-volume series of Taran’s adventures and is packed with action, humour, romance, and gallantry.
Recommended age: 12+

Sun Prairie Public Library

The gathering – Isobelle Carmody

Something is wrong with Chestnut. Nathanial feels it the moment he arrives. Strange things happen in this model neighborhood, despite the curfew. A mixture of fantasy and horror, this story has many twists and turns.
Recommended age: 13+

Wikipedia

‘Circle of Magic’ series – Tamora Pierce

In book one we meet Daja, Briar, Tris, and Sandry, four children brought to Winding Circle Temple for training in crafts and magic. They are outcasts in their homeland. But in this magical place, they are valued and respected for their special powers.
Recommended age: 13+

FanPop

Howl’s moving castle – Diana Wynne Jones

In the magical land of Ingary, Sophie Hatter attracts the attention of the malicious Witch of the Waste and is put under a horrid spell. She seeks refuge inside the strange moving castle of the wizard Howl (although he’s rumoured to eat the hearts of young girls). To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must strike a bargain with a fire demon and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way she discovers that there’s far more to Howl—and herself—than first meets the eye. In this intricate, humorous and puzzling tale of fantasy and adventure, destinies are intertwined, identities exchanged, lovers confused and people and things are never quite what they seem.
Recommended age: 12+

Harper Collins

The house of many rooms – Michael Pryor

A realistic fantasy which gets you in from the beginning.
Recommended age: 12+

Latrobe

Redwall series – Brian Jacques

The Redwall series of books describe an animal kingdom where the ‘good’ animals (mice, badgers, hedgehogs, hares and squirrels) must continually defend their homes and land against the ‘bad’ animals (rats, ferrets, weasles, and snakes). These are stories of honour, bravery, feasts and battles.
Recommended age: 12+

School Library Journal

The Fall (The Seventh Tower series) – Garth Nix

Tal, one of the Chosen, has lived his whole life in the castle of seven towers. When he falls from one of the towers, he falls into a world he never knew existed – a place of ice, wind and fury. It is here that Tal makes an enemy who will save his life – and holds the key to his future. The first book in a series of exciting and magical adventures.
Recommended age: 11+

Fantastic fiction

Harry Potter series – J. K. Rowling

Harry is a wizard who goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry seems destined to battle the evil Lord Voldemort in these exciting books full of magic, fun and danger.
Recommended age: 11+

Daily Mail

The Haunting – Margaret Mahy

Barney is being haunted by his Great Uncle Cole and seems powerless to stop it. What does Cole want from Barney? And what family secrets are about to be revealed? An eerie and mysterious ghost story.
Recommended age: 11+

Fantastic fiction

The game of the goose – Ursula Dubosarsky

When three lonely children buy an old board game from the opportunity shop, so begins an adventure that will change them forever.
Recommended age: 11+

ebooks

The house guest – Eleanor Nilsson

When Gunno and the gang break into the big, old house, so begins a mystery which sees Gunno being drawn back to the house again and again. What secrets does the old house hold and who was the boy who used to live there? A haunting story of secret places, psychic powers and altered time.
Recommended age: 11+

Used books

Deltora Quest – Emily Rodda

Magic, monsters, suspense and mystery make up this exciting adventure series set in the land of Deltora. The evil Shadow Lord has seized power by stealing the gems of the magical Belt of Deltora, which protects the land. The gems have been hidden in dark, terrible places throughout the kingdom. Two companions set out on a dangerous quest to find the gems, in order to defeat the Shadow Lord and restore peace to the land.
Recommended age: 11+

Children’s classics

Ella Enchanted – Gail Carson Levine

At her birth, Ella receives the so-called ‘gift’ of obedience from a fairy. Ella must obey any order given to her. But strong willed Ella does not tamely accept her fate. Against a backdrop of princes, ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters and fairy godmothers, Ella goes on a quest to break the curse – once and for all. An enchanting novel.
Recommended age: 11+

Fremont libraries

The Prophecy of the Gems – Flavia Bujor

Three young girls, Jade, Amber and Opal, each from very different backgrounds, discover on their fourteenth birthdays that they are adopted and that each has a stone that matches their name. An ancient prophecy compels them to leave their families to complete their mission in a far-off kingdom. A magical fantasy written by the author when she was just fourteen!
Recommended age: 11-14

Fantastic fiction

Ranger’s Apprentice Book 1: The Ruins of Gorlan – John Flanagan

Will hopes to become a knight; instead, he winds up as a Ranger’s apprentice, joining the secretive corps that uses stealth, woodcraft, and courage to protect the kingdom. Highly trained in the skills of battle and surveillance, they fight the battles before the battles reach the people. And as Will is about to learn, there is a large battle brewing. The exiled Morgarath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, is gathering his forces for an attack on the kingdom. This time, he will not be denied . . . .
Recommended age: 11-14

Random House

Fairy tales – Hans Christian Andersen

Elves, goblins, mermaids, princesses make up only a few of the characters in these much loved stories: ‘The emperor’s New Clothes’, ‘The Little Match Girl’, and ‘The Ugly Duckling’ are just some of the popoular stories in this anthology. Sometimes funny, but often more tragic and gruesome than you might have realised if you have only seen the Disney versions, these fables involve important life and moral lessons. Sometimes we don’t get what we want, we get what we need. Beautifully vivid and thought-provoking, these stories should be read by adults and children alike.

The Earthsea Quartet – Ursula Le Guin

A  superb four-part fantasy, comparable with the work of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, the “Earthsea” books follow the fortunes of the wizard Ged from his childhood to an age where magic is giving way to evil. As a young dragonlord, Ged, whose use-name is Sparrowhawk, is sent to the island of Roke to learn the true way of magic. A natural magician, Ged becomes an Archmage and helps the High Priestess Tenar escape from the labyrinth of darkness. But as the years pass, true magic and ancient ways are forced to submit to the powers of evil and death.

Goodreads

The Chrysalids – John Wyndham

In the community of Waknut it is believed mutants are the products of the Devil and must be stamped out. When David befriends a girl with a slight abnormality, he begins to understand the nature of fear and oppression. When he develops his own deviation, he must learn to conceal his secret.  The Chrysalids is a famous example of 1950s Cold War science fiction, but its portrait of a community driven to authoritarian madness by its overwhelming fear of difference – in this case, of genetic mutations in the aftermath of nuclear war – finds its echoes in every society.

SF texts

Finding Cassie crazy – Jaclyn Moriarty

Lydia, Emily and Cassie are best friends at the private school, Ashbury High. As part of an English project they must write to a student from the local government school, Brookfield. Lydia and Emily strike it lucky with their pen pals leading to lots of letters and the beginning of romance. Cassie is not so lucky though and needs the help of the others.
Recommended age: 13+

Jaclyn Moriarty

Princess Diaries – Meg Cabot

When Mia’s dad comes to New York, he drops a bombshell. Turns out he’s actually the prince of a small country! And Mia, his only heir, is now considered the crown princess of Genovia! The trials and tribulations of suddenly becoming a princess are recorded in Mia’s diary, from having a bodyguard and coping with the paparazzi, to taking princess lessons from her intimidating grandmother. This funny, fast-paced book is the first of many in the easy to read Princess Diaries series.
Recommended age: 11-14

Fantastic fiction

Feeling sorry for Celia – Jaclyn Moriarty

Life is pretty complicated for Elizabeth Clarry. Her best friend Celia keeps disappearing, her absent father suddenly reappears, and communication with her mother consists entirely of wacky notes left on the fridge. On top of everything else, because her English teacher wants to rekindle the “Joy of the Envelope,” a stranger knows more about Elizabeth than anyone else. And she’s getting anonymous love notes. A funny and revealing story written entirely in the form of letters, messages and postcards.
Recommended age: 13+

Fantastic fiction

The Eyre affair – Jasper Fforde

Thursday Next is a literary detective in an alternative Great Britain, where time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are popular pets), and where literature is taken very, very seriously.  When someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë’s novel, Thursday comes up against her former boss, master criminal, Acheron Hades. This quirky and inventive story with a host of eccentric characters will keep you entertained.
Recommended age: 14+

Book Club

Chronicles of Narnia series – C.S. Lewis

Sent off to the safety of the country to avoid Nazi attacks on war-time London, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie soon discover a whole new world – through a mysterious wardrobe. This series of seven fantasy novels charts their increasing involvement in the fictional realm of Narnia: a place where magic is commonplace, where animals talk, and where good battles evil.

You are what you read

Rowan of Rin – Emily Rodda

Rowan of Rin is the story of an unlikely hero – Rowan, a shy, fearful boy who people despise for his weaknesses. The village of Rin is in trouble and Rowan is the only one who can save them. Rowan faces his fears and surprises the villagers in this exciting fantasy adventure.       
Recommended age: 11-13

Search a lot

P.S. longer letter later: a novel in letters – Paula Danziger, Ann Martin

Elizabeth and Tara Starr are best friends. When Elizabeth moves away they continue their friendship in letters.
Recommended age: 11-14

Amazon

Missing girl – Norma Fox Mazer

This is the story of five sisters. Five very different girls aged from 17 to 11, each with her own dreams, fears and secrets. None of the girls is aware of the mild-mannered man who has become obsessed with them – until the day one sister doesn’t come home. The tension builds as you witness the sinister threat closing in on the girls in this haunting novel.
Recommended age: 14+

Allen and Unwin

Fake – K. K. Beck

Danny has been getting into trouble, so his mother and stepfather send him to a ‘rehab farm’ to teach him a lesson. On the way there Danny meets the violent and criminally-minded Keith, who provides them with an escape by hitting the two men guarding them with a crowbar. The two boys are then on the run and what follows is a gripping thriller based on a web of lies and false identities.
Recommended age: 14+

Fantastic fiction

Road Kill (Crime Waves) – Ken Catran CRI

Jack loves working on his Harley motorbike. That is, until he finds a body and his favourite teacher is blown to bits by a car bomb. There is plenty of action and twists aplenty in this murder mystery. You may also enjoy ‘Killer Plot’ in the same series.
Recommended age: 12+

www1.curriculum

The catcher in the rye – J. D. Salinger

Holden Caulfied is a seventeen year old boy who is trying to deal with the tragic death of his younger brother. Kicked out yet another school, he sets off for a few days in New York without telling his parents what has happened. Here, deeply afraid of becoming a ‘phony’ adult, Holden teeters precipitously on the brink of a nervous breakdown and desperately tries to connect with everyone he meets.

Fantastic Fiction

Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

Protagonist, Yassarian, is too smart to die but not smart enough to find his way out of the situation he is in: he just wants to get out of the war alive. This novel about the madness and contradictions of war is surprisingly funny; in trying to escape military life, Yassarian begins to realise that madness may be bad but sanity, it seems, is even worse.

Fantastic Fiction

The call of the wild – Jack London

Told from the point of view of Buck, the dog, this heart warming and heart breaking story is one which teaches us about courage, love and following our instincts. Buck is stolen by crooked dog traders and sold into worlds he never knew existed. Here, Buck encounters misfortune after misfortune; but demonstrates amazing courage in the face of adversity.

Normal Public Library Teens

Around the world in eighty days – Jules Verne

The year is 1872 in London, England, and it takes many months to travel around the world. Phileas Fogg makes headlines when makes a bet that he can make the trip in eighty days. Fogg bets half of his fortune, £20,000, and figures he will need the rest for his expenses… if he wins he breaks even, if he loses he loses everything.

 

Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery

Orphan Anne Shirley is devastated to discover that Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert had wanted a boy from the orphanage, not her: the red-haired, freckle-faced, skinny little girl who stepped off the train. Quirky and delightful, in spite of her many scrapes, Anne decides to try to win them over and soon comes to change their lives. With her constant chatter and vivid imagination, the character of Anne is so delightful, so well-intentioned, and totally endearing that this is the kind of book you will love to read and re-read.

Your move, Dickens

Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

This classic novel of love, betrayal and death follows essentially two interlacing stories set in the fascinating society of nineteenth century Russia. The plot weaves between the story of unhappily married Anna who has an affair with an Army officer and the parallel tale of Levin, a small time farmer, trying to woo a wealthy lady.

Alice’s adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

‘Begin at the beginning,’ the King said, very gravely, ‘and go on till you come to the end: then stop.’
Falling asleep during a lesson, Alice imagines that she dives into a rabbit hole – leading to a series of dream-like and delightful adventures. Extinct and fantastical creatures litter her path, from the Mad Hatter and his crazy tea party, through to the White Rabbit – who is constantly late – and who draws her into the adventures to begin with. Bizarre and often incredible, her fast paced adventures slip from one to the next, and are told in such a way that they are at once witty, yet silly – with something for readers of all ages.

Eclectic Indulgence…classic literature reviews

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle

Although he often proclaims his findings to be ‘Elementary, my dear Watson!’, in these gripping short stories the crime solving abilities of the astute and quick-witted detective Sherlock Holmes usually seem anything but! Travel back to the gas-lit streets of foggy nineteenth century London and see if you can follow the clues and red herrings to solve the story of the ‘Red Headed League’, the ‘Speckled Band’, or the ‘Man with the Twisted Lip’.

Penguin

The adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain

Drift off down the Mississippi on a raft with Huckleberry Finn and share his adventures. One of the greatest American novels ever written.

Kipglazer

20.000 leagues under the sea – Jules Verne

As this classic nineteenth century story of undersea exploration begins, an expedition is being mounted to track down a shadowy sea creature. Upon finding the monster and engaging in a violent battle, the key characters are thrown overboard on to the back of the creature … which turns out to be a submarine piloted by Captain Nemo and the real adventure begins!

Library Thing

Screw loose – Chris Wheat

Set in Melbourne this is a hilarious look at some of the students at Vistaview Secondary College. You will meet; Angelo, hot, up and coming AFL star; Zeynab, a Muslim girl with an obsessive-compulsive disorder and girlfriend of Angelo; Chelsea, rich, bossy and recently expelled from the local Catholic School; Matilda who lived with dingoes as a child and is still quite feral; Josh and Georgia, gay students who are both looking for love; Khiem who is trying to give up his criminal life; and many others. They all come together in this very funny, mixed-up mess of relationships, teenage life and society in general.
Recommended age: 15+

Wheelers

Paper Towns – John Green

Quentin has always loved his neighbor, the beautiful Margo Roth Spiegelman. At high school Margo is popular and unattainable, so Quentin is thrilled when she takes him on a night of revenge against those who have betrayed her. When Margo disappears the next day, Quentin becomes obsessed with trying to find her and unravel the clues she leaves behind. The story culminates after Quentin and his friends take a memorable car journey across the country in a race against time to find Margo. Quentin and his friends come to life in this, at times very funny novel, where people are not always what they appear to be.
Recommended age: 15+

St Ursula’s College

It’s not all about you, Calma! – Barry Jonsberg

In this sequel to the very popular, ‘The whole business with Kiffo and the Pitbull,’ smart-talking Calma falls in love, gets a job at the local Crazi-Cheep and manages to completely mess up her life. Her father has returned and wants to talk, her mother is keeping secrets and her best friend is hiding something horrible. Calma just wants to help but it’s not all about her. An absorbing and at times very funny novel about relationships.
Recommended age: 14+

Fantastic fiction

Loose Lips – Chris Wheat

Takes a crazy and funny look at the lives and problems of a group of ordinary, but very different, 16 year old students from a fictional high school in Melbourne.
Recommended age: 15+

Amazon

48 Shades of brown – Nick Earls

In year 12 Dan’s parents go overseas and Dan moves into a share-house with his 22-year-old aunt, Jacq, and her friend, Naomi. As if year 12 wasn’t hard enough, Dan falls for Naomi and things become much more difficult. A very funny book about the complexities of relationships told from a boy’s point of view.
Recommended age: 15+

Youth wired

Knocked out by my Nunga-Nungas – Louise Rennison

Georgia Nicolson is back with further confessions and is funnier than ever! She has finally landed Robbie the Sex God, but he’s never around, and her ex, Dave the Laugh, is starting to look quite dreamy. Strangely, so does just about every other guy Georgia meets, even the new French teacher.
Recommended age: 13+

Children’s Bookshop

It’s OK I’m wearing really big knickers – Louise Rennison

The sequel to ‘Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging’ is just as hilarious as Louise Rennison’s first novel. Georgia thinks ‘sex-god’ Robbie is hers, but is he? Georgia learns that the path to true love is never smooth.
Recommended age: 13+

Inside a dog

Angus, thongs and full frontal snogging – Louise Rennison

The diary of 14 year old Georgia Nicholson is a funny reflection on Georgia’s freaky family, unpredictable friends and the ups and downs of her love life.
Recommended age: 13+

Groupthing

The whole business with Kiffo and the Pitbull – Barry Jonsberg

After being savaged by their new English teacher, nicknamed the Pitbull for obvious reasons, Kiffo with his friend Calma, decides to get back at her. While on the trail of the Pitbull the two friends land in some tricky and dangerous situations. This is a great story – both funny and sad.
Recommended age: 13+

Boomerang books

Hoot – Carl Hiaasen

New in town, Roy thinks Florida is not nearly as interesting as Montana where he last lived. That is until he sees a boy running barefoot very fast away from the school. Roy senses a mystery and before long is caught up with trying to avoid the clutches of the school bully, finding an ally in the strong, athletic and older Beatrice, just managing to stay on the right side of the law, a nest of poisonous snakes and helping the elusive Mullet Fingers. All while trying to save some burrowing owls by stopping a pancake parlour being built on their colony. A funny story that will keep you entertained.
Recommended age: 11+

Fantastic fiction

Dogs don’t tell jokes – Louis Sachar

 Gary Boon (Goon) has one aim in life, to be a stand-up comic. Trouble is everyone groans at his jokes and his peers think he is a joke. Gary sees the school talent quest as his big chance, but the other students have something else planned for him on the night.
Recommended age: 11+

Amazon